Home Again, Home Again

Project White Christmas was a success.

We left at 11 pm on Sunday night, because Aaron couldn't sleep. We stopped at 6 am in Oklahoma City, got a room, and slept for 3 hours. At 10 am on Monday we continued our journey, and made it to Grinnell around 9 pm. What a long day!

Declan loved Aaron's dad, Kevin. As soon as he held him, Declan started babbling up a storm and smiling non stop. We visited tons of friends and relatives, with whom Declan played favorites - for some people he would smile and coo, for others he would do nothing but scream. Oh well. He also got tons of presents; teddy bears, books, rattles, clothes, even a car seat. His favorite toy so far is a plush froggie that has a big embroidered smile - he sees the frog smiling and he smiles back at it!

Lots of cookies and a few ham balls later, the festivities were over with, and we all packed up to make the trek back to Texas. This time, we set realistic goals for driving, and it went much smoother. We left around noon, and stopped about 7:30 pm in Witchita. Then we had some mexican food and a good night's sleep, and got on the road again at 9 am. We here home by 7 pm! It was much, much nicer than leaving in the middle of the night.

Anyway, it feels great to be home. I had a rather traumatic doctor's appointment yesterday (biopsy of my cervix) but then we went to Mom and Dad's and had a beautiful rib roast and leftover Christmas cookies. Mmm. And Aaron and I have decided that after we clean the house, we will reward ourselves with a Scrabble tournament - Katherine gave us our own set for Christmas! But the house is in total shambles, so Scrabble may not happen until 2010.

Pictures of Christmas journey:

A Bucket o' Fuss

Turns out we're going to have a white Christmas after all. Aaron, Declan and I are headed to Iowa on Monday (!!!) and staying for a week.

Here's what I'm excited about: Declan meeting the rest of his family, visiting friends, the first 5 minutes of playing in snow.

Here's what I'm dreading: The rest of the week of snow, being cooped up in a strange house with people I've only met once or twice, the two 18-hour car rides with a two-month-old.

I'm also anxious about being back in Grinnell in general. Seeing the grocery store where we used to buy snacks and liquor, the library where I spent way too much time on Facebook and not enough time writing my papers, the fields where I built snow-forts in the winter and got a tan in the spring. Sometimes I think,"I should be there right now, in my dorm room, packing to go on winter break. Not wiping spit-up off of myself and changing poopy diapers." But then my sweet baby smiles, and there's nowhere I'd rather be. The degree will come, one way or another. But Declan is one-of-a-kind, and I love him way more than I ever loved college. So... there.

Declan will officially be two months old tomorrow! I can't believe it's been two months since I held that tiny, squishy, purple newborn. Now he is a little man, with opinions. Squishy newborns just sleep all day, and you can dress them in different outfits, and snuggle when you feed them... Little opinionated two-month-olds do not stand for playing dress up, or taking naps. But sometimes, I still snuggle him, even though he's very long and very big.

Look at these pics of my two boys, taken last night:

Declan's Favorite Things

Mommy's left boob. Mommy's right boob. Any boob, really. The paintings above Grandma and Grandpa's couch. My hands. The folds in Aunt Sue's sweaters. Lauren Grace's feet. The picture of a zebra on my exersaucer. My pacifier. Bathtime. Daddy neighing like a horsey. Peeing on things.

These are the things that make me smile.

Weeks Seven & Eight

I've been a bad blogger, forgive me. There's been quite a bit of chaos around here lately.

Declan has had big ups and downs the last two weeks. At the beginning of his seventh week, it was like a miracle occurred. He became a "by-the-book" baby - eating every two hours, sleeping longer, not crying as much. But that only lasted three days. Then the switch flipped and he went back to his fussy, non-sleeping, eating every hour self.

Then last week, we temporarily ran out of cloth diapers and I put him in disposables for a night. Guess who slept from 10:30 pm to 6 am straight? Yep, Declan. Guess who woke up every 2 hours the next night, when he was back in cloth? You guessed it. So, guess who is contributing to landfills by putting disposable diapers on her son at nighttime? This overtired mama right here, that's who. And I only feel mildly guilty about it.

Getting more sleep is terrific. We haven't had another straight-through-to-morning night yet, but at least we only get up once or twice rather than a batrillion times. The other great thing about this week is the smiling. Declan has been grinning at us so much more this week, especially when Aaron makes fart sounds at him (what a boy...)

We've decided not to go to Iowa for Christmas. I'm sad that we won't see his family, or our Iowa friends, but I'm also relived that we won't be driving 17 hours with a two-month-old.

Pictures from weeks seven and eight:

Our Christmas Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Holy Cow

I just found out that an online friend of mine (Yes, that's possible, for all of you skeptics. I'm friends with people I've never met in person. And they are the only way I made it through six weeks of bed rest without going completely bonkers.) Anyway, an online friend of mine whose son is a couple weeks older than Declan is pregnant again! She's due in August.

This just makes my mind spin for so many, many reasons. One, this is medically possible?! Two, someone felt good enough and well-rested enough and not paralyzingly embarrassed of their body enough to make a baby?! And three, HOW DO I PREVENT THIS?! I mean, duh, I know how to prevent it. But after reading my friend's announcement, I just feel like being extra, extra sure, because the idea of trying to manage a ten-month-old and a newborn simultaneously makes me nauseous. I want to install deadly lasers in the doorway to my bedroom, programmed so that only Declan and I can enter. Or maybe dig a moat. With crocodiles. And sharks. I'm really not ready for another baby.

I had my six-week postpartum checkup today, the doctor said everything looked "totally normal." Which is a huge relief to me, because I was half expecting her to take a peek down there and be like, "OMG! Why didn't you call me earlier! Your stitches are terribly infected and we're going to have to amputate your lady parts!" Okay, well, I knew they weren't terribly infected, but scar tissue down there is a very tricky thing... Sorry, I'll stop. Sorry.

More later, I'm trying to make the most of the baby-is-asleep-in-the-bouncer-for-once-in-his-life time that I'm being blessed with, and there is a heaping pile of laundry to fold. Some things you just can't do one-handed.

Week Six

For some reason, six weeks seems like a milestone, but I'm not sure why... Maybe all those years of getting report cards every six weeks have something to do with it.

The big news this week is that Declan has had his first two bottles of pumped breastmilk. He sucked them down like a champ! Aaron and I both tried it. Yuck. I expected it to be sweet like soy milk, but it just has a weird aftertaste.

Declan has officially outgrown his 0-3 month size clothes. He didn't even get to wear all of them! Oh well, on to 3-6 month.

Last night was a small miracle - we got up at midnight for a diaper change, went back to bed, nursed, and slept until about 5:30! The only downside is that the diaper apparently cannot handle five hours worth of pee - we'll have to look into getting some absorbent inserts. I was glad that I had decided to be a lazy bum and not put the sheets back on the bed after washing them yesterday.

I think Declan is having a growth spurt. He usually has an awake-and-happy period in the late morning, but today he just ate and slept, then ate and slept some more. But his naps have been good, long stretches, so I'm grateful.

Not much else to report... It's cold. It's December. Christmas is coming!

No pictures this week, as I haven't had time to locate the camera charger. But I promise I'll take some before next week.